More than 20 percent of Americans seem to think that God is a performance enhancer, a new study has found.
A survey conducted in January 2014 by the Public Religion Research Institute shows that many people believe God plays a role in sports, such as the Super Bowl.
John B. White, Ph.D., assistant professor of practical theology and director of the sports ministry/chaplaincy program at Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary said that it is a "troubling theology".
"When we pray to win, our prayer for victory is also a prayer for our opponents' defeat. Net effect: Our prayers are at the expense of others," White said.
"For the Christian tradition, this is egoism - a vice that grates against the chief virtue of love," he said.
Whether uttered by a Seahawk fan or a Broncos fan, a prayer for a win amounts to asking God to break the rules of the Super Bowl, which is a contest between two teams.
"The contest then becomes less about our preparation and skill and more about who received God's favor and who did not," White said.